Next story:

Thunder, snow announce double snow storm in Northeast

Norwich Public Works employee Dirk Brouwer clears the sidewalks around city hall in Norwich, Conn. on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011. A major winter storm dumped close to two feet of snow on much of Connecticut on Wednesday, shutting down schools and businesses and slowing travel to a crawl. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy asked all nonessential state employees working the day shift to stay home. He also asked private businesses to follow the state's lead. (AP photo/The Day, Sean D. Elliot)

AP | AP

A jogger crosses the Brooklyn Bridge after a snow storm hit the city, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011 in New York. Plows and salt spreaders hit the streets up and down the East Coast to stem chaos during Wednesday morning's commute as a storm that shut down much of the South churned northward and dumped several inches of wet, heavy snow. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

AP | AP

A pedestrian walks along a street during a winter storm in Albany, N.Y., Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011. Plows and salt spreaders hit the streets up and down the East Coast to stem chaos during Wednesday morning's commute as a storm that shut down much of the South churned northward and dumped several inches of wet, heavy snow. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

AP | AP

Roy Williams of Westfield, Mass., shovels snow in front of his vehicle on a merge ramp on Interstate 91 southbound during a winter storm in Windsor, Conn., Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011. Williams said a plow clearing the highway passed by and blocked him in. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

The Associated Press

Posted Jan. 13, 2011, at 5:18 a.m.

BOSTON — Much of New England continued to dig out from under more than 2 feet of snow and children in hundreds of communities enjoyed a second day off from school Thursday as power companies worked to restore energy to homes and businesses darkened by the region’s third snowstorm in three weeks.

The winter storm that crippled the South earlier this week tread more lightly as it moved Northeast, before joining forces Wednesday with a system from the Midwest. The storms announced their arrival in New England with claps of thunder and record amounts of snowfall in some cities.

As the storm swept north, the National Weather Service reported snow on the ground in every state except Florida. That included Hawaii, which had 7 inches on the top of the Mauna Kea mountain. The winter weather was blamed for at least 18 deaths since Sunday when snow and ice hit the South.

“People will still have to bundle up to go out to dig out of their driveways and sidewalks,” meteorologist Rebecca Gould said.

Scores of schools, businesses and government offices closed Wednesday, and some, including schools in Boston and Providence, R.I., planned to stay closed Thursday.

Airlines canceled more than 3,000 flights, mostly in the snowy Northeast, but said travelers wouldn’t be stuck for days as they were after a Christmas weekend storm. New York accounted for half the canceled flights, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.

Commuter rail service was delayed or suspended across the region, and Amtrak suspended service between New York City and Boston because of damage to the overhead power system south of Boston.

While motorists were warned to stay off the roads, Josh Clukey, 24, of Eastford, Conn., had no choice. He ventured out when his pregnant wife began showing signs of labor early Wednesday. The drive to a hospital in Willimantic, normally 25 minutes, lasted a harrowing hour.

“It was a little scary. It was dark, and the snow was blowing all over the place,” said Clukey, whose son, Ryland James, was born at 8:42 a.m. “There was maybe only about 6 inches on the roads at the time, but the plows hadn’t come out yet.”

In Maine, winds that gusted to 48 mph in Portland and 50 mph in Brooklin knocked out electricity for more than 7,000 Central Maine Power and Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. customers at the storm’s peak, officials said. Some places in the state could see 20 inches of snow by the time final measurements are taken, said weather service meteorologist John Jensenius.

In Portland, people who had the day off used Twitter and Facebook to organize a snowball fight, resulting in a so-called flash mob with dozens of young people in Deering Oaks Park.

“We heard there was going to be a big snowstorm. We said, ‘Hey we’re not working tomorrow so we should have a snowball fight.’ It’s sort of like being a kid again,” said Scott Collins, 27.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said the storm left more than 100,000 people without power or heat by noon. He declared a state of emergency. Scattered power outages were reported in Connecticut, Rhode Island and elsewhere in the region.

By Wednesday night, National Grid said 7,000 electricity customers in Massachusetts remained without power, down from about 75,000 during the height of the storm.

In New York, where city leaders took heavy criticism for their slow work after a Dec. 26 blizzard, officials rolled out a massive response that quickly cleared the streets. They also received some help from nature, with only 9 inches of snow falling in Central Park — well short of 20 inches in last month’s storm.